6,717 research outputs found
Quantum Effective Action in Spacetimes with Branes and Boundaries
We construct quantum effective action in spacetime with branes/boundaries.
This construction is based on the reduction of the underlying Neumann type
boundary value problem for the propagator of the theory to that of the much
more manageable Dirichlet problem. In its turn, this reduction follows from the
recently suggested Neumann-Dirichlet duality which we extend beyond the tree
level approximation. In the one-loop approximation this duality suggests that
the functional determinant of the differential operator subject to Neumann
boundary conditions in the bulk factorizes into the product of its Dirichlet
counterpart and the functional determinant of a special operator on the brane
-- the inverse of the brane-to-brane propagator. As a byproduct of this
relation we suggest a new method for surface terms of the heat kernel
expansion. This method allows one to circumvent well-known difficulties in heat
kernel theory on manifolds with boundaries for a wide class of generalized
Neumann boundary conditions. In particular, we easily recover several lowest
order surface terms in the case of Robin and oblique boundary conditions. We
briefly discuss multi-loop applications of the suggested Dirichlet reduction
and the prospects of constructing the universal background field method for
systems with branes/boundaries, analogous to the Schwinger-DeWitt technique.Comment: LaTeX, 25 pages, final version, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Higher Spin Gravitational Couplings and the Yang--Mills Detour Complex
Gravitational interactions of higher spin fields are generically plagued by
inconsistencies. We present a simple framework that couples higher spins to a
broad class of gravitational backgrounds (including Ricci flat and Einstein)
consistently at the classical level. The model is the simplest example of a
Yang--Mills detour complex, which recently has been applied in the mathematical
setting of conformal geometry. An analysis of asymptotic scattering states
about the trivial field theory vacuum in the simplest version of the theory
yields a rich spectrum marred by negative norm excitations. The result is a
theory of a physical massless graviton, scalar field, and massive vector along
with a degenerate pair of zero norm photon excitations. Coherent states of the
unstable sector of the model do have positive norms, but their evolution is no
longer unitary and their amplitudes grow with time. The model is of
considerable interest for braneworld scenarios and ghost condensation models,
and invariant theory.Comment: 19 pages LaTe
Effective action and heat kernel in a toy model of brane-induced gravity
We apply a recently suggested technique of the Neumann-Dirichlet reduction to
a toy model of brane-induced gravity for the calculation of its quantum
one-loop effective action. This model is represented by a massive scalar field
in the -dimensional flat bulk supplied with the -dimensional kinetic
term localized on a flat brane and mimicking the brane Einstein term of the
Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model. We obtain the inverse mass expansion of
the effective action and its ultraviolet divergences which turn out to be
non-vanishing for both even and odd spacetime dimensionality . For the
massless case, which corresponds to a limit of the toy DGP model, we obtain the
Coleman-Weinberg type effective potential of the system. We also obtain the
proper time expansion of the heat kernel in this model associated with the
generalized Neumann boundary conditions containing second order tangential
derivatives. We show that in addition to the usual integer and half-integer
powers of the proper time this expansion exhibits, depending on the dimension
, either logarithmic terms or powers multiple of one quarter. This property
is considered in the context of strong ellipticity of the boundary value
problem, which can be violated when the Euclidean action of the theory is not
positive definite.Comment: LaTeX, 20 pages, new references added, typos correcte
Further functional determinants
Functional determinants for the scalar Laplacian on spherical caps and
slices, flat balls, shells and generalised cylinders are evaluated in two,
three and four dimensions using conformal techniques. Both Dirichlet and Robin
boundary conditions are allowed for. Some effects of non-smooth boundaries are
discussed; in particular the 3-hemiball and the 3-hemishell are considered. The
edge and vertex contributions to the coefficient are examined.Comment: 25 p,JyTex,5 figs. on request
Spectral Action for Robertson-Walker metrics
We use the Euler-Maclaurin formula and the Feynman-Kac formula to extend our
previous method of computation of the spectral action based on the Poisson
summation formula. We show how to compute directly the spectral action for the
general case of Robertson-Walker metrics. We check the terms of the expansion
up to a_6 against the known universal formulas of Gilkey and compute the
expansion up to a_{10} using our direct method
Heat Kernel Expansion for Semitransparent Boundaries
We study the heat kernel for an operator of Laplace type with a
-function potential concentrated on a closed surface. We derive the
general form of the small asymptotics and calculate explicitly several
first heat kernel coefficients.Comment: 16 page
Spectral action for torsion with and without boundaries
We derive a commutative spectral triple and study the spectral action for a
rather general geometric setting which includes the (skew-symmetric) torsion
and the chiral bag conditions on the boundary. The spectral action splits into
bulk and boundary parts. In the bulk, we clarify certain issues of the previous
calculations, show that many terms in fact cancel out, and demonstrate that
this cancellation is a result of the chiral symmetry of spectral action. On the
boundary, we calculate several leading terms in the expansion of spectral
action in four dimensions for vanishing chiral parameter of the
boundary conditions, and show that is a critical point of the action
in any dimension and at all orders of the expansion.Comment: 16 pages, references adde
Diffeomorphism invariant eigenvalue problem for metric perturbations in a bounded region
We suggest a method of construction of general diffeomorphism invariant
boundary conditions for metric fluctuations. The case of dimensional
Euclidean disk is studied in detail. The eigenvalue problem for the Laplace
operator on metric perturbations is reduced to that on -dimensional vector,
tensor and scalar fields. Explicit form of the eigenfunctions of the Laplace
operator is derived. We also study restrictions on boundary conditions which
are imposed by hermiticity of the Laplace operator.Comment: LATeX file, no figures, no special macro
- …